Tito Puentes

In the world of Latin music, Tito Puente was considered royalty. He won the nickname EL Rey del Mambo. Puente’s helped popularized mambo which is a form of dance music. Tito Puente was born Ernest Anthony Puente, in the Spanish Harlem, a Hispanic neighborhood in New York City. His parents settled in New York after moving from their native home in Puerto Rico. At an early age, Tito showed a flair for music by listening to big- band jazz stars such as Duke Ellington. Tito admired popular drummer Gene Krupa. Puente’s wanted to learn how to play the drums, and he did learn and he also learned how to play the timbales, two small tom- toms mounted in a stand. Tito started using his musical talent and started to perform concerts and gigs as a teenager. Tito believed his music was growing so at age fifteen Tito dropped out of school to focus on his music and play professionally in Miami Beach, Florida. Puente’s got an offer to work with a young pianist named Jose Curbelo. Tito Puente enlisted in the Navy and around the time of WWII. Puente’s fought in the war and survived the war. Tito came back from the war and used a special government program for veterans called the G.I. Bill to attend the world famous Juilliard School of Music. While attending a music school Puente learned how to write and arrange music. In 1948 Tito gathered his music education and put it to test by forming a band and taking the spot light on the music industry. Tito Puente played at the Palladium Ballroom in New York City, Puente played a Cuban dance song called Mambo, and it made him a star. He then went beyond the traditional dance styles, adding the complex melodies, harmonies, and orchestral arrangements of modern jazz. Puente led both his Palladium big- band and a smaller Latin jazz group known as the Latin Ensemble. Tito Puente went on to showcase his talents on both television and the big screen performance. In 1979, he won the first of his four Grammy Awards, the highest honor in the music